AI & Machine Learning Products
Edge Network
Platform as a Service
Virtual & Dedicated Servers
Video Streaming Platform
Cloud for Mobile
Custom Services Products
Media & Entertainment
Financial Services
IT / Technology
Retail
Education
Web Acceleration
Video Streaming
Security & Protection
Cloud
Availability
Partnership Solutions
Corporate Solutions
DNS, Domain Name System, is a critical protocol of the Internet that connects domain names to their IP addresses.
Why do we need this protocol? It simplifies our interaction with websites. Due to DNS, we don’t have to memorize website IPs (“IP” stands for Internet Protocol, numerical addresses like 192.158.1.38)—we can access them using only their domains (human-readable addresses like example.com).
All computers on the Internet have their numeric addresses—their IPs. They interact with each other using these addresses. For you to open a website, your browser sends a request to a specific server on the Internet where the content of the website is hosted. To find this server and send the request to it, your browser needs its IP.
How do you find out the IP? It would be great If you could remember the numerical addresses of all websites and enter the desired address into the search bar yourself. However, it’s very inconvenient for people to memorize long numbers. That is where the DNS—the domain name system—helps, as it connects IPs with domains. People just need to know the domain and send the request to it. DNS will help to find the IP of the corresponding server so that you can establish a connection with it and download the content of the website.
Does DNS only store the information about IP addresses? No, it also stores additional information about the domain—for example, its mail servers. A specific type of information about the domain, stored in the DNS system, is called a DNS record.
DNS records are used to store information about domain names and the resources associated with them. All records for the particular domain are usually called a DNS zone. The following are some of the most common types of DNS records:
DNS uses a hierarchical system of DNS servers. You need to know them to understand how DNS works. There are several types of DNS servers, including the following:
When a user attempts to access a website via a browser, their computer sends a request to a DNS server. In response, the DNS server provides an IP address associated with the website’s domain name. Then the computer establishes a connection to the web server hosting the website using the IP address. The goal of this is to download the content so it will be shown to the browser. Apart from that, the connection can also be used to send data to the server, such as submitting the form or accessing protected content that requires authentication.
The full DNS query process typically involves the following steps:
Step | Example |
1. The user’s device sends a request for the IP address associated with a specific domain name to its local DNS resolver. | The user wants to open example.com. Their browser sends the local DNS resolver the request to find the IP of example.com. |
2. The local DNS resolver checks its cache for a recent copy of the DNS record (just in case somebody has already requested this domain and the DNS resolver already knows its IP and has saved it into the cache). | The local DNS resolver checks its cache for the recent copy of DNS records for example.com. |
3. If the local DNS resolver does not have a recent copy, it sends a request to the root DNS server. | The local DNS resolver hasn’t found a recent copy. It sends a request to the root DNS server—the resolver requests the IP of the DNS server in charge of .com. |
4. The root DNS server responds with the address of a top-level domain (TLD) DNS server. | The root DNS server responds with the IP of the DNS server in charge of .com. |
5. The local DNS resolver sends a request to the TLD DNS server for the specific domain name. | Since the local DNS resolver now knows the IP of the DNS server in charge of .com, the resolver can send a request to it. The resolver requests the IP of the DNS server in charge of example.com. |
6. The TLD DNS server responds with the address of the authoritative DNS server for the domain. | The DNS server in charge of .com responds with the IP of the DNS server in charge of example.com. |
7. The local DNS resolver sends a request to the authoritative DNS server for the IP address associated with the domain name. | The local DNS resolver sends a request to the DNS server in charge of example.com. The resolver requests the IP of example.com. |
8. The authoritative DNS server responds with the IP address. | The DNS server in charge of example.com responds with the corresponding IP (192.158.1.38). |
9. The local DNS resolver returns the IP address to the user’s device. | The local DNS resolver returns 192.158.1.38 to the user’s browser. |
10. The user’s device establishes a connection to the web server using the IP address and downloads the website’s content. | The user’s browser establishes a connection to 192.158.1.38, and requests the content of example.com from it. As soon as the content is downloaded, the webpage is opened. |
It should be noted that this is a simplified version of the process; in reality, there are multiple levels of caching, and DNS queries can be performed using different protocols (UDP or TCP), as well as security measures such as DNSSEC or DNS over HTTPS.
A DNS hosting service is a service that allows individuals or organizations to store and manage (edit, update, or delete) DNS records for their domain.
Alongside a basic management interface, modern DNS hosting services provide various capabilities like query stats, minimal average network delays towards DNS servers, monitoring and failover for configured records, API and DevOps tooling integrations, prompt change delivery, minimal TTL available, DDoS attack sustainability, etc.
When choosing a DNS provider, there are several factors to consider, including the following:
You can host your domains on your own infrastructure by means of your engineering team’s efforts, or you can use DNS hosting services. Either way, the goal is to effectively manage DNS records and reply to requests with the minimum possible delay.
If your choice is to use a DNS hosting service, pay attention to our DNS. It has:
This article aims to discuss the WHOIS Privacy Protection Service, which is a vital tool for domain owners. By explaining…
Establishing digital trust is crucial for internet security, and the Root Certificate plays a critical role in this. For instance,…
In today’s connected world, service uptime is crucial. Whether you’re managing a personal project or an enterprise-level application, interruptions can…